“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even 40 years later,” she tells Us Weekly in a statement. “My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy.”

Sally Field and Burt Reynolds in New York City in 1977.Ron Galella/WireImage.com

The legendary actor first met Field, 71, on the set of Smokey and the Bandit in 1977. They began dating that year and were together for five years. Decades later, Reynolds called her “the love of my life.”

“I miss her terribly,” he told Vanity Fair in November 2015. “Even now, it’s hard on me. I don’t know why I was so stupid. Men are like that, you know. You find the perfect person, and then you do everything you can to screw it up.”

Reynolds and Field reprised their roles as Bandit and Carrie, respectively, in Smokey and the Bandit II in 1980. They were also costars in the 1978 films Hooper and The End.